Ivy: Finished!

Well, we can thank the flu for this turn of events, because Ivy was finished in little over four weeks! Here she is in all her glittery beaded glory:

Isn't she the prettiest? Sigh. I can't stop looking at her. Which was not the case when I finished her, let me tell you. That day I was so not in the mood for beading, but I really wanted to finish her, so I beaded her with a vengeance ("con rabia", as we say in Spanish, which roughly translates as "with rage, in anger")... And I finished the beads in only one day! What can I say? I suppose even cross stitchers can be Temperamental Artists!

Before I show you some close-ups, I want to explain what materials I used for the "special effects" for anyone interested:

Metallic Threads

The beautiful, glittery wings originally called for Kreinik, but as usual I did my own thing. I compared colors online and got these Chinese threads instead, which may I say did the work beautifully:

One is a sky blue, and the other a dark coal blue, if that is even a thing. I was very happy with the result to be honest, as I think I got the colors right, but as you can imagine working with these metallics was absolute hell. I'd heard horror stories online about working with metallic threads so I was expecting trouble, and let me just tell you, those people were not exaggerating!

Beads

I played it by ear too when it came to the beads, and I went into my stash from my long-gone beading days. Again, I looked at the original Mill Hills, compared them to what I had, and picked the best candidates:

I mean, not perfect, but not too shabby either. They're pretty and glittery and they did the job well.

Photos

And now for the close-ups, for anyone still reading! 

So much fairy dust everywhere! And I love the little detail beads on the shoes... contented sigh. What can I say? I love this little pixie and I'm sure I'll be doing more!

I hope everyone is having a good week with plenty to keep with busy, until next time, happy stitching :)